There is power in giving yourself years to achieve your goals and aspirations.
Growing up, I believe that there is a connotation to goals and achieving them quickly. Somehow, whether it be society, family, friends, media, whatever it was – it got to me. I have typically gone into something, with a goal to accomplish it in a few months. The biggest one that I found myself making this mistake was, my health. I never gave myself enough time in order to accomplish what it was that I wanted to gain.
It wasn’t until I went through difficult times, that I realized, good things take time. Anything that comes quickly, is a problem. It is those things in life that require your time, your discipline, and take years to accomplish, that are valuable. It is those goals that are worth going after. No matter what obstacles you think are in front of you, it is typically those dreams that will require years, that are worth chasing.
But why don’t we? I have found that first, they are so left field from what traditional society shows us today, that it becomes scary. Secondly, they require time to really see any type of results. Looking back, I have ran towards the mentality, that things need to happen quicker. The thought of something that was going to require years of work, would paralyze me from progression. It is something that I realized was wrong, and I knew it needed correction.
I recognized that it was an incorrect way to think, when I was listening to an audio one day. The speaker, was talking about life, and he brought up “thinking in terms of years.” The suggestion was, to start incorporating longer time frames into your goals and aspirations. This has always continued to ring in my head. It’s been years since I have watched that video. I can’t even remember who it was that spoke those words, but it stuck with me. It made me realize, that the things that I wanted to do in my life, are going to require years and years of work and not months and months. It was incorporating the word YEARS into the vocabulary. Shifting from goals that would take me months to accomplish, and start going after goals that were going to take me years to reach.
I think that too many of us put too much pressure on ourselves and our children. We sometimes want the best for ourselves and for our children, that we press too hard – too quickly. We are led to believe that we need to be accomplished by a specific time in our life. This is flawed. If you are fortunate and blessed enough, to live an average life span of 80-85 years, then guess what? That’s a long time. We will have the time, it’s more about, what do you do with it? I believe, that our purpose in life is to figure out what gifts we have within ourselves, and then use those gifts to help move the world in the right direction.
Deep down inside of you, you have a dream. You have something that you want to do with your life. You may have many different dreams and goals. That is all great. I just think we need to start giving ourselves more time to achieve these things. Thinking in terms of years, holds great power. You begin to realize that all of the greatest things that we see within our day to day, has been created within years of time. The greatest things that we get to witness today alone, are built upon years and years of someone working towards a focus.
I have always stayed current on the fitness industry, it is something that I value within my life. I believe it’s important. Throughout my years of following that space, there are millions of people that are under the impression that health and fitness is a 3-6 month voyage. The media makes fitness look like it is a quick process. Can a lot be accomplished in 3 months? Absolutely. But, it is through the years of application, that you get the results that are being marketed to us today. It takes years to accomplish something great, and it takes even more years of work just to hold onto it.
Thinking in terms of years, gives the mind and the body, time to really find something within yourself. More time, equals a greater opportunity for development. Working towards something for years can allow for you to settle in, and get ready for the ride that you are embarking upon. When you know that you are in this for the long game, then you start to see and understand things for what they really are.
You now have time to start, to learn, to adjust and then master it. I have found, that when I give myself too little time to accomplish something, I fall short. I can end up thinking that I didn’t achieve something, because I must have done something wrong. It should have worked by now. It should have delivered a result by now. The problem here is, not that I did something incorrectly, it’s that I didn’t give myself ample time, in order to see what years of work towards something can really deliver.
Working at different jobs has proven to me that it takes years to master a role. Jumping from one industry to another, there are learning curves that you need to adapt to, in order to learn and master your craft. In maintaining proper self awareness, I was able to see that it was not until the 2nd year of my roles, that I was beginning to feel a strong sense of self confidence within my work. The same goes for experts in a field. I have never ran into someone who was a master at their craft , and told me they had been doing it for 2 months. It just doesn’t work that way.
Anyone can easily fall victim to the notion of immediate results and instant gratification. Always looking for the easy route. While there are things that can be done more efficiently, if you want something that is worth something to you, to other people, then there is no answer other than it takes years of hard work. Amazon is a company I have worked for in the past. This is a company that was started in a garage. When you take a step back and think to yourself that the largest e-commerce website in the history of the world was started in a 2 car garage, you realize how something great, required years of a man’s life. Amazon was nothing, until its 5th year in business.
People learn at different speeds and some people pick up on things way quicker than others. However, mastery is something that is cultivated over years not months. It is something that is practiced day in and day out for years. It is within these years, that greatness is born. When we witness an amazing athlete accomplish a world record, it is not because the athlete practiced for a few months and set a world record. The achievement, is backed by countless years of relentless effort.
I have learned this lesson through my own life experiences. Sometimes, I sit back and wonder how much “better off” I would have been with the capability of understanding this sooner. But, then I remind myself, that life is not perfect. My responsibility is to recognize these learning moments, and keep moving forward to the best of my own ability. I still have work that needs to be done. However, I now give myself years to accomplish this life-long work.
I have children of my own now, and thinking in terms of years, is something that I have begun to instill into their mindsets. There is no rush. We have plenty of time to chase what we expect out of our own lives. When they find their gift, I want for them to go after it with the understanding that they will be watering their seeds for years, not months.
The question is not, “What is it that we want to accomplish in life.”
The question becomes – “Am I willing to dedicate years and years to that dream or idea that I have within me?”
It is through the years of dedication, and commitment towards something, that true results are revealed. If you have found something that you want to go after in your life, start to envision what things would be like if you dedicated years to it. What could happen…?
